Key findings from current flu monitoring systems for the week ending September 12, 2009, include:

The overall level of flu activity is currently low and appears to be slightly increasing when compared to last week.

The number of people hospitalized with flu is currently low and appears to be not changing when compared to last week.

The number of people dying with flu is currently low and appears to be not changing when compared to last week.

Testing for Flu - Statewide (NYS and NYC)

All laboratories (public, private, hospital, commercial, etc.) that perform testing on residents of the state report all positive flu test results.

Test results may identify Flu Type A, Flu Type B, or Flu without specifying Type A or B. Some tests only give a positive or negative result and cannot identify flu type (unknown).

There are two main types of flu viruses-Type A and Type B. Type A flu viruses can be broken down further into 3 common subtypes. Each subtype has a slightly different genetic makeup from the other. Novel H1N1 flu is one of the subtypes of Flu Type A.

All Positive Flu Reports for week ending 9/12/09

Week ending

Flu A

Flu B

Flu, type unknown

September 12

63

5

0

All Positive Flu Reports (season to date, by week)

Week ending

Flu A

Flu B

Flu, type unknown

Total

September 5

36

2

2

40

September 12

63

5

0

68

Public Health Testing for Flu

Wadsworth Center, the NYSDOH public health laboratory, tests a subset of NYS residents from two sources:

A select group of doctors from around the state send samples from patients with complaints of illness consistent with flu that they see in their offices.

A select group of hospitals from around the state send samples from patients who are admitted to the hospital with complaints of illness consistent with flu.

Subtypes Tested at Wadsworth Center for week ending 9/12/09

The NYSDOH works with a select group of doctors ("sentinel providers") across the state who report the total number of patients they saw and the total number of those patients with complaints of illness consistent with flu every week.

This graph represents the percent of visits to these sentinel providers that were for patients with complaints of illness consistent with flu.

Percent of Visits to NYS (Outside of NYC) Sentinel Providers for Flu (season to date, by week)

Week ending

New York State

Regional Baseline

August 29

0.83%

2.90%

September 12

0.67%

Note: A single sentinel provider in Tompkins County is currently experiencing a large outbreak of flu-like illness and data from this provider have been excluded from this graph.